People v. Ramsey

• Decision Date: 20 May 1971
• Docket Number: Cr. 3772
• Citation: 17 Cal.App.3d 731,95 Cal.Rptr. 231
• Court: California Court of Appeals Court of Appeals
• Parties: The PEOPLE of the State of California, Plaintiff and Respondent. v. John RAMSEY and Jeanne Ramsey, Defendants and Appellants.

Page 231

95 Cal.Rptr. 231

17 Cal.App.3d 731

The PEOPLE of the State of California, Plaintiff and Respondent. v. John RAMSEY and Jeanne Ramsey, Defendants and Appellants.

Cr. 3772.

Court of Appeal, Fourth District, Division 1, California.

May 20, 1971.

Rehearing Denied June 4, 1971.

Hearing Denied Aug. 4, 1971.

[17 Cal.App.3d 732] J. Perry Langford, San Diego, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for defendant and appellant John Ramsey.

Peter Clarke, San Diego, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for defendant and appellant Jeanne Ramsey.

Evelle J. Younger, Atty. Gen., William E. James, Asst. Atty. Gen., and Richard W. Bakke, Deputy Atty. Gen., for plaintiff and respondent.

OPINION

GERALD BROWN, Presiding Justice.

Defendants John Ramsey and Jeanne Ramsey, husband and wife, appeal their jury tried convictions of manslaughter (Pen.Code § 192) of their 130 day old daughter Bessie Ann. They were sentenced to prison.

We appointed a single counsel for both defendants on appeal. After briefs were filed, on our own motion we vacated the appointment and appointed separate counsel for each defendant.

Both defendants were represented below by the same attorney, the public defender.

The defendants and their six children, the oldest being eight, were an intinerant family. Bessie Ann was born in Madera, California, September 6, 1968. She was kept in the hospital 5 days longer than her mother because of internal bleeding. On October 30, 1968, Bessie Ann was taken to the Palo Verde Hospital in Blythe, California, suffering from convulsions, being unconscious, with head, arms and legs twitching. She weighed 7 pounds, 9 3/4 ounces. Dr. Berry administered injections to suppress the convulsions. He felt the Riverside General Hospital could give expert medical attention not available in Blythe, and he exhorted the mother to take the child to Riverside, a distance of about 170 miles, most of it throught desert.

Enroute to Riverside, the Ramseys' car broke down near or in Brawley. We are not told why defendants went this circuitous southern route. But without transportation, they remained in Brawley where Mr. Ramsey sought and obtained employment, working long night hours.

Mrs. Ramsey took Bessie Ann to the Pioneer Memorial Hospital in Brawley on January 14, 1969, about 7:45 p.m., where, despite medical aid, the child expired an hour later. Her blanket and diaper smelled strongly of urine. The autopsy physician reported a 5 1/2 pound child, extremely emaciated, without food in the stomach and intestines, indicating Bessie Ann died of malnutrition due to starvation; she had not taken food for 24 to 48 hours, the starvation process had been going on for more than 48 hours and probably had been going on for weeks.

Mrs. Ramsey told an officer, who had followed the car speeding to the hospital, Bessie had been sick about a week; Mr. Ramsey had been unable to take the baby to a doctor, all her children had been small under age one; and she did call the police to help because they might think she had not been feeding the baby.

About 11 p.m., on the date of the child's death, Investigator Sears and two other Imperial County Sheriff's deputies, waited at Ramseys' residence. When the Ramseys arrived, Officer Sears said he wanted to talk to them about information for the death certificate. Mrs. Ramsey told the amount of food Bessie Ann ate the afternoon of her death, a jar of baby food and 3 or 4 bottles of milk. Officer Sears asked for and was given permission to see the entire house and take pictures. The children's bedroom had a strong urine odor. Officer Sears did not Miranda warn defendants. This was done two days later by Officer Santos who said they were agreeable to answering his questions. His testimony is invariably what 'they' said.

Mrs. Ramsey did not testify. Mr. Ramsey did.

Both Jeanne Ramsey and John Ramsey contend they were denied effective representation by counsel because the same public defender represented both of them and a conflict existed in dual representation. Although neither defendant requested separate counsel below, the record does not show either or them was advised of the right to separate counsel if a conflict existed Under these circumstances we may not imply from their silence a waiver of the right (People v. Chacon, 69 Cal.2d 765, 774, 73 Cal.Rptr. 10, 447 P.2d 106).

Counsel for John Ramsey argues the defense of a husband and wife for the negligent homicide of their child is loaded with potential conflict. While her factual defense may be limited to establishing she, in fact, cared for the child, his defense could additionally consist of his reasonable attempts to provide for the child and a reasonable belief his wife carried out her duties. John Ramsey did testify he worked long hours and had little time to be with his family, as he slept much of the time while home. To effectively present John's additional defense would be to weigh the scales...